The present invention is generally directed to the field of detection and monitoring of a subject's living activities. More specifically, it is directed to a system and method for indirect yet adaptive monitoring of an individual or other living subject's well-being within a predefined setting. The system and method in various embodiments provide for the adaptive monitoring for anomalous conduct within the predefined setting sufficient to raise concerns of the subject's well-being, as well as for confirmation of normal conduct. In certain applications, for example, the system and method provide for the remote autonomous monitoring of an elderly, disabled, or otherwise infirm subject within their usual dwelling place to alert another when sufficiently anomalous conduct is detected. Depending on the application, the system and method may also determine based on such factors as patterns of monitored activity the degree to which the presence or absence of certain activity is anomalous. The system and method provide for such monitoring in a discreet and minimally intrusive but highly effective manner.
One's home is a place of comfort, independence, familiarity, and happy memories, and an increasing number of people choose to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, despite increasing infirmities as they get older. However, the elderly are especially vulnerable to falls or sudden illness, and families worry about the safety of loved ones alone at their homes. Attempting to address these issues, some families employ a professional caregiver; but this tends to be expensive and is only reassuring for the time the caregiver is at the home. Communication technologies, such as phones and emergency buttons and similar devices known in the art tend to be effective only so long as an elder is physically willing and able to reach out for help. Legacy security technologies, like video surveillance cameras, are often seen as very intrusive by elders. Moreover, wearable sensors and personal emergency buttons are effective only to the extent the aging adults actively cooperate by actually carrying them at all times. Many elders are either unable to consistently remember, or are not entirely willing to carry such personal sensors.
In a similar vein, families or caregivers may wish to similarly monitor the well-being of individuals who may not necessarily be of advanced age, but have physical or mental disabilities. Others may wish to monitor those who may be able to function independently in many degrees but for various other reasons may have limited ability to call for help or report problems during unusual or unexpected situations. Still, some families may be interested in monitoring the status of young-adult children or other individuals who are of lawful age to be left unattended in the family home, but may actually lack the maturity to reliably and responsibly respond to potential situations that may arise.
Systems known in the art have generally provided for highly invasive systems, such as surveillance cameras, which are often unacceptable to one or another party involved in the monitoring process due to privacy issues. Other systems known in the art have exploited sensors, but report excessive volumes of unfiltered, raw, detailed information to be of practical use to a monitoring user. Too much information similarly tends to create privacy issues, for example by showing a subject's exact location in the house, or reporting their bathroom or other intimate personal habits. Too much information also tends to create information overload for the monitoring user—leaving the end user to sift through, for example, overly detailed movement graphs or sensor trip-time information in order to make sense of what conduct the subject person is actually engaged in.
Systems known in the art have also focused, in general, on the direct measurement of events or occurrences of interest. For example, the focus may be placed on when a monitored individual is in bed, sitting on a particular chair, or opening their medicine chest. Though some pattern detection has been considered, these systems are highly limited in their ability to infer behaviors or events that are not actually measured directly.
Additionally, the well-being of individuals within a controlled environment may be enhanced with improved or expanded utilization of social connectivity with monitoring. Yet, systems known in the art fail to effectively incorporate and utilize social connectivity measures to optimize monitoring toward that end.
There is therefore need for a system and method which provide for effective yet discreet, minimally intrusive monitoring of a subject's well-being within a certain setting. There is a need for such system and method which offers simple, manageable presentation of information to the monitoring user(s), especially when anomalous conduct is detected.